Timex Pocket Watch
No American watchmaker has put more timepieces into more pockets than the organisation that eventually became Timex. The story begins in 1854 in Waterbury, Connecticut — long before the Timex name existed — and runs through the original Dollar Watch, the Mickey Mouse watch, the brutal "takes a licking" television campaigns, and into the present day. For a collector, Timex watches offer accessible entry points, strong American heritage, and a fascinating history of deliberate democratisation: these were watches made specifically so that everybody could afford one.
On This Page
Origins — Waterbury and the Dollar Watch
The Waterbury Clock Company was established in 1854 in Waterbury, Connecticut — a city in the Naugatuck River Valley that had become America's centre of brass manufacturing. Its original products were clocks made from inexpensive stamped brass components, sold to a market that had previously been served primarily by expensive European imports. The valley's concentration of metalworking expertise earned it the nickname "the Switzerland of America."
The transition from clocks to pocket watches came gradually through the 1870s and 1880s. By 1887 Waterbury had produced the "Jumbo" pocket watch (named after P.T. Barnum's famous elephant), and by the mid-1890s the company had partnered with New York entrepreneur Robert Ingersoll to produce the first genuinely mass-market American pocket watch. The Ingersoll Yankee, launched in 1896 at a retail price of one dollar, was the first "Dollar Watch" — a non-jewelled but reliable timepiece that working-class Americans could afford to own. By 1910, Waterbury was producing more than three million Yankee watches annually for Ingersoll.
Why a dollar? In 1896, a dollar represented roughly a day's wages for a labourer. The Yankee was priced precisely at this threshold because Ingersoll understood that a watch costing less than a day's pay was a watch every working man might buy. The strategy worked — and the concept of accessible timekeeping it established has defined every successor organisation up to the present day.
The Ingersoll Connection
The Ingersoll name is central to the Timex family tree. Robert Hawley Ingersoll and his brother Charles operated as a mail-order business selling watches made by Waterbury Clock Company from 1892. Their commercial instincts were sharp: they understood that mass distribution through unconventional channels — mail order, department stores, drug stores — could reach customers that traditional jewellers' shops could not. This distribution philosophy survived into the Timex era: by the 1960s, Timex watches were famously sold in hardware stores and pharmacies alongside their jewellery-store competitors' products.
Ingersoll's greatest moment was the Mickey Mouse watch of 1933 — made under Disney licence for the Chicago World's Fair, selling 11,000 units on the first day, and almost certainly rescuing the company from Depression-era bankruptcy. The watch was made by Waterbury Clock Company and sold as an Ingersoll. Two million Mickey Mouse watches were sold in the following year alone. See the Mickey Mouse Pocket Watch page for the full story.
US Time Corporation and the Timex Brand
Norwegian takeover
Norwegian industrialist Thomas Olsen acquired a controlling interest in the struggling Waterbury Clock Company, fleeing Norway after the German invasion. Engineer Joakim Lehmkuhl joined as president. A new plant was built in Middlebury, Connecticut — still Timex's headquarters.
WWII production
The plant shifted to producing fuse timers for the defence industry — it became the largest such producer in the United States, earning the Army-Navy "E" Award for production excellence. The precision engineering demanded by war production shaped the post-war watch programme.
Renamed US Time Corporation
Following the war production success, shareholders voted to rename the company United States Time Corporation. The Timex name began appearing in limited print advertising. The name was reportedly chosen by Olsen as a portmanteau reflecting things he was fond of.
First Timex wristwatch
The first Timex-branded wristwatch rolled off the assembly line, using hardened alloy bearings (armalloy, developed for missile guidance systems) instead of traditional jewels — dramatically cutting manufacturing cost without sacrificing durability.
"Takes a licking and keeps on ticking"
NBC newsman John Cameron Swayze fronted a series of television advertisements subjecting Timex watches to extreme abuse — strapped to boat propellers, cliff-dived off Mexican cliffs, placed in blenders. Each ad ended with Swayze declaring the watch still running. By the late 1960s, Timex accounted for roughly half of all US watch sales.
Indiglo — electroluminescent backlighting
Timex introduced electroluminescent backlighting under the Indiglo name — a zinc sulphide and copper dial that glowed at the push of a button. The technology became Timex's defining innovation of the era and was widely adopted across the range, including pocket watches.
Timex Pocket Watch Models
Timex produced pocket watches throughout much of its history, from the original Ingersoll Yankee through to modern production. Key models and types encountered by collectors:
Ingersoll Yankee (1896–1920s)
The original Dollar Watch — non-jewelled, open-face, simple stamped steel case. The archetypal accessible American pocket watch. Examples in working order are plentiful and inexpensive. The Yankee was sold under both the Ingersoll and Waterbury names at various points.
Ingersoll character watches (1933–1940s)
Mickey Mouse and other Disney character dials. Covered in detail on the Mickey Mouse Pocket Watch page. These are the most valuable Ingersoll-Waterbury pieces.
US Time Corporation pocket watches (1944–1969)
Transitional period pieces bearing the US Time name rather than Timex or Ingersoll. Less commonly encountered than the Ingersoll pieces; look for the US Time Corporation branding on dial or movement.
Timex mechanical pocket watches (1950s–70s)
Open-face pocket watches using Timex's standard pin-lever movements. Simple, robust, and inexpensive — the pocket watch equivalent of the wristwatch range. Not horologically distinguished but durable and period-typical.
Timex Indiglo Expedition (1990s–2000s)
The most sought-after modern Timex pocket watch. Quartz movement with Indiglo backlighting; rugged case with Expedition branding; various dial colours including the distinctive dark green with jade-like hour markers. See section below.
Timex character and licensed editions
Disney partnerships produced various character-dial Timex pocket watches from the 1990s onward. Peanuts (Snoopy / Charlie Brown) and other licensed dials also appeared. Generally modest collector value but popular as wearable nostalgia pieces.
The Indiglo Expedition Pocket Watch
If there is one modern Timex pocket watch that has developed a genuine collector following, it is the Indiglo Expedition. Produced primarily in the 1990s and early 2000s, this watch combined Timex's rugged Expedition positioning (originally developed for outdoor and adventure use) with the Indiglo backlighting that became the brand's signature technology of the era.
The Expedition pocket watch features a quartz movement in a substantial chrome or stainless case with a hinged lid — more robust in feel than many period fashion pocket watches. The dial options included a distinctive dark green dial with jade-tone numerals and markings, and a more standard white or cream dial variant. The Indiglo function illuminated the dial in the brand's characteristic blue-green glow at the push of a button — genuinely useful in low light, and one of the first widely available pocket watches with any backlighting.
Vintage Expedition pocket watches in good condition with original packaging attract consistent interest. The dark green dial version is the most sought-after. These are still eminently affordable — typically $20–$50 — but they have established themselves as collectible period objects rather than simply discarded cheap watches.
Values
| Model | Condition | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Ingersoll Mickey Mouse pocket watch (1933–1939) | Good, running | $150–$600+ (see dedicated page) |
| Ingersoll Yankee Dollar Watch | Working, clean dial | $30–$80 |
| Ingersoll Yankee | Non-running, worn | $10–$25 |
| Timex mechanical pocket watch (1950s–70s) | Working | $20–$50 |
| Timex Indiglo Expedition (green dial) | Working, with box | $35–$65 |
| Timex Indiglo Expedition (green dial) | Working, no box | $20–$40 |
| Timex character / Disney licensed edition | Working, any | $15–$45 |
Related Pages
- Ingersoll Watch Company — Dollar Watch to Mickey Mouse, the full story
- Mickey Mouse Pocket Watch
- Pocket Watch Collecting Guide
- Pocket Watch Values